Chapter 2

Fifty thousand dollars.

To dismiss a housekeeper who had served their entire family for three years.

I looked at Carol’s mouth, painted with exquisite lipstick, and felt nothing but profound irony.

“What if I don’t?” I asked.

Carol’s face instantly darkened.

“Ungrateful.”

She turned to Brandon: “Son, don’t waste your breath on her. She just wants more money. I’ve seen plenty of women like her. Ignore her for a few days, and she’ll cave.”

Rick chimed in, “Exactly! Don’t bother with her! Let’s see what tricks she can pull!”

The three of them reached a consensus, completely ignoring me and the audit text, and began watching TV as if I were invisible.

The noisy chatter of the TV show mingled with the burning pain on the back of my hand.

Oppression, rage, humiliation.

I clenched my fists, turned, and went back to my room, slamming the door shut.

I stared at the system panel before me. The line “Total Filial Duty Debt: $2,730,000 USD” was my only leverage.

I couldn’t just let this go.

I clicked on the system and found that besides the settlement modes, there was also an “Information Inquiry” function, which required a $1,000 system credit fee.

I didn’t hesitate to pay.

[Information Inquiry function activated. Please enter the content you wish to inquire about.]

I tentatively typed in “Mother-in-law Carol, health supplements.”

I remembered last month, I had spent twenty thousand dollars to get premium quality health supplements for Rick’s health.

But he only took them once, claiming they tasted weird, and Carol packed the rest away.

The next second, a string of information popped up on the system interface.

[Query Results:]

[Date: Xth of X month. Event: You purchased premium health supplements valued at $20,000 USD.]

[Fund Flow Tracking:]

[X+1th of X month, Carol contacted second-hand supplement resale dealer “Mike’s Resale” via SnapChat, selling the supplements for $8,000 USD.]

Attached were clear screenshots of their SnapChat conversation.

Carol: “Mike, got another batch of good stuff. Premium grade, and that idiot daughter-in-law bought it.”

Mike’s Resale: “Carol, you’re amazing! Same price as before?”

Carol: “Yep, just transfer the money directly to my card.”

My heart sank a little further.

Following this was the bank transfer record.

$8,000, not a cent missing.

But that wasn't all.

The system continued to display.

[X+1th of X month, 3:30 PM, Carol transferred $8,000 USD to bank account ending in XXXX. Recipient: Tiffany Chen.]

[Memo: Tiffany, a little spending money from your aunt. Buy whatever you like.]

Tiffany Chen.

Brandon’s cousin, Carol’s niece.

The princess who was doted on by the entire family, who would order me around every time she visited, while my in-laws and Brandon would only tell me to "be more accommodating" to my "sister."

My $20,000 act of filial devotion was sold by my mother-in-law for $8,000, which then became her niece’s spending money.

I felt a chill run from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head.

I continued to enter keywords.

“Mother-in-law Carol, high-end organic supplements.”

“Father-in-law Rick, massage chair.”

“Brandon, startup fund.”

One by one, shocking query results appeared.

The $8,000 high-end organic supplements I bought were exchanged by her for $3,000 worth of cheap alternatives, with the difference going into Tiffany’s pocket.

The $30,000 full-feature massage chair I bought for Rick was deemed too space-consuming by him and sold to a neighbor for $10,000. That money went to Brandon for "business expenses."

The most ridiculous part was that I had given Brandon my emergency savings that my parents had given me, $200,000, to support his "startup."

The system showed that the money was transferred to a gambling website account that very day and lost completely.

But Brandon had told me it was an investment failure, a total loss.

He had even held me, swearing, “Don’t worry, darling. When I get back on my feet, I’ll make sure you live a good life.”

A good life?

My efforts, my sacrifices, my heartfelt devotion – in their eyes, I was nothing more than an ATM to be freely used, a recycling station for resources.

And all the value harvested flowed to the people they truly cared about.

Me, I was nothing.

I leaned against the cold wall and laughed.

I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

Eleanor, Eleanor, you’re truly the biggest fool.